THE FOUR LEADERSHIP MOTIONS IN A NUTSHELL

The core of 4LM is a set of principle-driven behaviors that help you navigate a wide variety of complex circumstances. It creates clarity around individual and shared goals, helps people to articulate and agree to parameters, and aligns teams toward a common horizon. My wife and I call them “motions” because these are things you can “DO” to create progress.

The Four Leadership Motions are:

The order in which we present them shows how the motions build on one another. But they work alone, in any combination, or as a stepwise process. Each can be transformed into a question that you can ask yourself whenever you feel you want to make more progress faster, or turn down the “volume” on the drama. Are we Oriented Honestly around our current situation? Is this the best way for us to Leverage the Brains available to us? Here is an overview of the Motions in in brief:

Motion 1: Orient Honestly.

Orienteering is about figuring out where you are at this moment: What is the current situation, what makes this moment complicated or challenging, and do we all share the same understanding of that current state analysis? Defining our current situation fully and honestly brings clarity; and lack of clarity is a pernicious roadblock to progress.

Over the years, we’ve discovered that honestly and clearly defining where we are right now and where we would like to go makes progress exponentially easier.

Motion 2: Value Outcomes.

This motion asks leaders to place more value on the outcome you want to achieve than on the activities planned. Typically, when people think about planning, they think about making a list of the things that they will do leading up to the creation of an output. But what are you trying to accomplish or improve by executing everything on your list of tasks?

When you value planning above outcomes, it’s easy to conflate effort with achievement. Having done work or checked things off a list isn’t the same as creating value through your actions.

Instead of focusing on outputs, measure your progress toward shared outcomes, and continuously strive to improve how you work as a team. This outcome focus is the root of several modern management practices, including “Agile,” “Lean,” and “learning mindset.”

Motion 3: Leverage the Brains.

Great leaders know that they are only capable of seeing the world from their own, limited perspective and that pulling in a range of people will make their original ideas better and more enduring. People who have had varied life experiences see situations from different angles and are able to offer different solutions to the same problem. If you want to create or improve something, the best way to do it is to build a diverse team and explore the possibilities as a group.

This motion calls on us to involve the right people and ensure they can all participate fully and equally.

Motion 4: Make Durable Decisions.

This final motion seeks to eliminate the waste caused both before and after decisions are made. Before, we waste time by looking for “the right” decision or “the best answer” and even “consensus.” These standards are too high, and most times unrealistic.

At the same time, taking the cowboy approach and making a decision without leveraging the brains leads to the other kind of decision waste: When decisions are reversed or re-litigated. Making a durable decision means looking for an option that makes strong progress toward the outcome you want, and one that everyone can support (even if they disagree).

EFFECTIVELY NAVIGATING RESISTANCE AND A COMPLEX FUTURE 

In our own lives, these Four Leadership Motions offer grounding when we feel stress and guidance when we feel stuck. They’ve helped us and our clients through loss, transitions, disagreements, and apathy, as well as guiding us through joyful life events and decisions. These principles are like the duct tape of human existence: versatile, reliable, and surprisingly strong in the face of resistance.

We are introducing 4LM right now because the pace of change is slower today than it will ever be for the rest of our lives. Sit with that for a few moments. Our world is simpler now than it will likely be again for generations. COVID, racial and economic inequality, splintered families, government upheaval, educational gaps, sexism, and climate change are just a few of the disrupters of our day-to-day lives, and others are already cresting on the horizon. We’re in for one hell of a century, and we need your leadership.

By leadership thought leader Jason Fraser, who has advised countless entrepreneurs, government entities, businesses and universities around the world on leadership and effective team building. Jason currently leads a team at VMware of more than 50 product managers and designers who work with the Department of Defense and other government clients to build mission-critical software. Previously, he was the Director of Agile Practice Leadership Enablement for Pivotal, where he worked with government organizations and Fortune 500 companies enabling their leaders to manage innovation portfolios.

Jason is the co-author of “Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama: How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You Lead” launched in April 2023.